Hendry, capped 51 times and captain of Scotland at the 1998 World Cup finals, answered a tweet to play for the Blackburn Sunday League side at Pleasington Playing Fields in from Lancashire where he was just 'one of the lads'.

Moorgate manager Darryl Hartley took to social media - more in hope than expectation - to invite the Premier League winning centre back to join his team.

And much to his surprise, Hendry, who famously helped Rovers win the first string league title in 1995, turned up and played the full 90 minutes in Moorgate's 3-2 win over The Wellington.

Read More

Now he is hoping to play in Sunday's crucial top-of-the-table clash against reigning Division One champions Crown Paints.

"I really enjoyed it," said Hendry. "Playing at Pleasington was a lot different to what I am used to.

"Daz just sent me a tweet to ask if I would play for his team and I thought 'why not'.

"I look after myself, I play for an over 35s team in Lytham, play in a lot of charity games and make sure I take plenty of cod liver oil tablets to keep the joints loose!

Colin Hendry stars for Scotland against Brazil in the opening match at the World Cup Finals in 1998 in France but now he is playing Sunday league for a pub team (Image: PA)

"I think a lot of the lads were surprised to see me.

"Being the model ex-pro, I was there nice and early and as they walked in to the changing room, I said 'you're late!'"

Hendry, nicknamed Braveheart for his heroic and no nonsense defending, used all his experience to help Moorgate fight back to seal victory over bottom of the table Wellington to hold on to second place.

"We were losing 2-1 with not much time to go," said Hendry. "I never like losing, whatever level it is, but thankfully we turned things around and won 3-2. When we got back in to the changing room I said 'played one, won one, that will do for me!'"

Colin Hendry lifts the Scottish Cup in 1999 during his stint with Rangers (Image: Sunday Mail)

Hartley admitted most of the players didn't believe him when he said Hendry would be turning out for the Livesey Branch Road pub team - especially as his recruiting policy had come via Twitter.

"Darren Brennan, who runs the team with me, said he had been chatting to Colin so I thought, I follow him on Twitter I am just going to ask him to play for us," revealed Hartley who guided Clifton to the Blackburn Sunday League title before they disbanded three seasons ago.

Former Rangers and Scotland captain Colin Hendry with his new team-mates after their 3-2 victory (Image: UGC)

Read More

"I told the lads but most of them didn't believe me. So you should have seen their faces when they turned up at Pleasington and Colin was sat their in the dressing room waiting for them. He was a class act, talking to all the lads before the game, was superb during the match and then came back to the pub for a pint and a chat.

"He was just one of the lads and said he will try and play whenever he can."

He added: "It's all pretty weird when you think about it. Colin's played for Scotland, been to the World Cup finals and won the Premiership with Blackburn Rovers and now he was playing for our team."

Hendry's presence at the Blackburn venue certainly caused a bit of a stir with league secretary Peter Fryer admitting he 'could not believe his eyes' when he saw the former Ewood Park favourite at the changing rooms.

"In fairness, I think it was more of the older lads who remembered me rather than the younger ones,"added Hendry.